Saving Milky Way
by cucumbermelon3200
Summary: Vala arrives in Atlantis bearing bad news from Earth. Set early season 4.
1. Part 1

Saving Milky Way

"What is it," Sam asked, hovering over McKay's shoulder and looking down at the image displayed on the screen.

"That," Rodney indicated the said image. "…is our poisonous snake."

Sam furrowed her eyebrows. She was no biologist, but whatever that thing was it sure didn't look like a poisonous snake to her. It had the head and body of an eel but at its midsection, it split into several long, spaghetti-like tentacles. She continued to study the revolving graphic as Rodney continued.

"…Apparently, it's common on several planets in this region."

"'Look's more like some kind of octopus…" Sam observed, having ignored the scientist's last few comments. McKay frowned and put on his familiar, "wow, that was one of the dumbest things I've ever heard," faces.

"Yes, well my Ancient's a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure the name translated to big poisonous snake; not big poisonous octopus," he said with an arrogant smirk.

Sam rolled her eyes, deciding it wasn't worth a bickering match.

"Ma'am…"

Sam turned around and looked towards the technician who had just summoned her.

"Our sensors are picking up a ship that just dropped out of hyperspace."

She frowned and strode over to the consul the man was stationed at. On it, there was a tiny blinking representation of a ship that jumped closer to the city every time it blinked.

"What is that?" Ronon asked, having just appeared over her shoulder. She didn't know whether it was the fascination with what was on the screen, or that she had just gotten used to it, but she didn't even jump this time.

"It's a tel'tak…" she told them, though still in disbelief herself.

"A what?"

"Ma'am, we're receiving a radio message."

"Patch them in," she ordered, and headed over to the computer where another technician was typing in the commands.

At first they heard only static, but eventually words started filtering through the noise.

"…Atlantis...? Hello…? Is there anyone down there? If anyone can hear me, please respond…"

It sounded as though whoever was speaking was annunciating each word, as if they were trying to communicate with someone of a foreign language. Ronon exchanged looks with Sheppard and Rodney squinted in interest.

Sam let her mouth drop open a few inches, and she stood frozen in utter disbelief for a few moments before she finally did respond.

"Vala?" she asked, hoping she was wrong but knowing she wasn't.

"Sam?" the other woman said, seemingly much more excited then Sam was. "Is that you?"

Sam hesitated. "…Yes…"

"Oh, thank god! You don't know how good it is to hear your voice!" Vala exclaimed, sounding exasperated and relieved at the same time.

Sam paused again, unsure quite how to proceed. "…What are you doing here?"

"I came to warn you," she said in a more serious tone.

"Warn us of what?" Ronon butted in.

"Vala, what are you talking about?" Sam added.

There was a short pause. "Samantha... I need you to listen to me very carefully," she began, and Sam raised an eyebrow. "Earth has been compromised."

At this, people in the room exchanged horrified glances.

Sam struggled to find a response. "…how?" she asked.

"That's a very long story, and I have little time before my ship loses power. I need you to grant me permission to board, and then I can give you more details."

Sam hesitated. For all she knew, this could be a trick, and that wasn't really Vala on the other line. But then again, it was only a small vessel that posed little threat with or without weapons, and right now it had hardly enough power to move, let alone fire on them. She sighed.

"I'll have a team meet you in the jumper bay," she agreed.

"Thank you," Vala chirped, and the transmission ended.

Sheppard's team, along with Sam, strode into the jumper bay just as the small Gua'ould vessel grounded with a loud thump. A small team of marines positioned themselves behind them, aiming their guns.

The ship's door creaked open and slowly lowered itself to the floor, landing with a crash. A few sparks followed the ex-thief as she strolled down the ramp, and it was clear that Vala had not been lying about the ship's condition. She nearly lost her balance when larger sparks suddenly shot from inside the ship and she spun around to avoid them. Rodney also threw his hands up to protect his face.

Sam, who throughout this display stood calmly with her hands clasped behind her, now smiled in a mixture of amusement and impatience. As Vala turned back to face them, she chuckled humorlessly.

"I may be needing some repairs before I set off again," she said with mock cheeriness.

"Yeah, just maybe…" Rodney added, his tone implying she had just almost killed him.

After a quick medical by Dr. Keller the group was gathered around the table in the Atlantis briefing room.

"I don't know what they are," Vala explained. "I've never come in contact with them before."

John, who had been leaning back in his chair drumming his fingers on the table, now straightened up and folded his hands together in interest. "Why don't you start from the beginning," he suggested.

Vala looked to Sam, as if to see if there was any opposition to that idea, but Sam only nodded. She sighed, for she wasn't quite sure where to begin.

"Alright…" she instigated. "So I was in my quarters talking to Daniel…"

"Is this relevant?" Sam interrupted, closing her eyes in frustration.

Vala narrowed her eyes at her and repositioned herself in her chair. "…And there was an incoming wormhole," she continued, her tone bitter. "It wasn't anyone we knew of, and so we sealed the iris, but…" she sighed. "I'm not really sure what it was… radiation of some sort, maybe? But it seemed to hypnotize everyone—everyone's in a trance."

Foreheads creased in interest and Sam leaned in closer. "A trance?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know, like coo-coo," Vala explained, rotating her finger next to her head. "…brain-dead… lost their marbles."

Sam nodded to show her understanding.

"But the 'gate can only stay active for 38 minutes," Rodney interrupted.

"Usually…" Sam added, beginning to understand where this was going.

"Right. It didn't shut down," Vala explained. "I tried snapping them out of it—waving my hand in their faces, yelling in their ears… but they were completely unresponsive."

There was a short pause. "Why were you not also affected by this… radiation?" Teyla questioned.

"You know, I'm not quite sure about that," Vala admitted. "But I got out of there while I could. I came here hoping I could reach you before the same thing started happening in this galaxy."

Sam nodded, still trying to comprehend it all.

"You see…" she continued. "I tried stopping on other planets so I could 'gate out using their Stargate, but it turns out this is happening on a lot more worlds than we think."

"And it's affecting everyone?"

"The whole planet, as far as I know."

"Well… well then what do you want us to do?" Rodney asked.

Vala smiled and withdrew a small piece of paper from her vest pocket. She slid it into the center of the table and they all leaned in closer to look at it. "That," she explained. "Is the 'gate address to said alien's home planet."

Rodney frowned, looking terrified at the prospect of going on such a mission. John raised an eyebrow, and Sam returned Vala's smile as she studied the symbols on the paper.

"It's in the Pegasus Galaxy," she said.

Vala smiled more widely. "Yes it is."

Sam stood up then, signaling for everyone else at the table to do the same. "Well then it's settled," she said. "Gear up everyone. We head out in 0100 hours."

She turned and began to stack folders but no one had moved yet.

"We?" Rodney asked.

Sam frowned. "Yes, _we_ Rodney," she clarified, and Vala gave a curt nod of agreement. "We need Vala on this mission and someone has to keep her in line."

Vala frowned at the insult, and all but Rodney grinned in amusement as Sam swept by them and out of the room.

"So you're sure this is the right 'gate address?" Rodney asked for the seventh time as the 'gate was dialing. Sam rolled her eyes.

"Rodney, I'm sure the answer hasn't changed since the last time you asked," John said coolly, pushing the last symbol in the address on the jumper's consul and watching the 'gate engage.

Teyla fingered the tiny piece of equipment within her ear doubtingly. "Are you sure this device will protect us from these… radio waves?" she asked.

It was the same technology SG-1 had used to drown out Seth's brain control.

"That's assuming they are radio waves," Rodney said smugly. "I mean, let's face it; this whole mission is based on assumption. We have no way of knowing what we're getting ourselves into…"

"Simply put…" Sam cut him off. "Yes. They should work."

Rodney looked offended. John stared up at the wormhole and inhaled in preparation.

"Good luck, ma'am," Chuck called from above.

"Thank you, Chuck," Sam yelled back, and then nodded to Sheppard.

He sighed and laid his hand on the control consul, driving the jumper forwards. "…here we go…"

They emerged on the other side and soared upwards, cloaking instantly. They looked down on the planet and their mouths dropped open in amazement.

"That's a lot of Stargates…" Ronon commented.

It was indeed a lot of Stargates. The rings were arranged in a large circle around a big, silver dome. Tiny men… or creatures, (it was hard to tell from this height) were wandering around performing different tasks. Some were moving and dialing Stargates. Others were carrying things working around the central dome.

"This must be how they were able to affect so many planets simultaneously," Vala said. "It's like what you guys did to defeat the replicators."

"Where did they get them all?" John asked, peering out the window in disbelief. No one knew the answer, so no one replied.

The ring of 'gates seemed to go on forever, and they all simply gazed out at the scene for several minutes as the jumper flew overhead, scanning the area for a safe position to land.

"So what's the plan?" Ronon finally asked.

It took a few moments before Sam finally realized they were all staring at her expectantly. She had almost forgotten she was in charge of the mission.

"Right…" she said. "We need to find and eliminate the source of the radio waves."

"Piece of cake," Ronon said.

Sam smiled. "We can land the jumper over there," she said, nodding towards a small cluster of trees on the outskirts of the development.

John nodded and turned the jumper in the right direction.

"Well this isn't right," Rodney said, peering down at the screen on his handheld doohinkey.

"What!?!" John, Sam, and Ronon demanded at the same time.

"The radio waves must be interfering with my power readings. They're all over the place," he explained.

Sam sighed. She expected as much.

"So what does that mean?" Vala asked.

McKay glared at her. "It means I won't be able to track the source of the interference."

"We already have a pretty good idea where the interference is coming from," Sam said, scanning the area with her P-90.

McKay groaned and stuck his power reading device back into one of his pockets. "I knew this was a bad idea…" he grumbled.

"Would you rather we abandon Earth and the rest of the galaxy?" Sam asked distastefully.

"We don't even know that Earth is really in danger," he retorted.

Vala shot him a look. "You think I'd make this up!?!"

Rodney turned to look at her. "No," he said. "I just think you might not be who you say you are."

"That's enough!" Sam shouted, cutting Vala off. "We don't know too much of anything right now so we're going to take our chances."

John nodded in approval and she took a deep breath.

"Ok. We split up, and head for the dome," she ordered.

Rodney looked at her in disbelief and shuffled his feet. "S-split up? Do you really think that's the best idea?"

"We'll keep in radio close contact," she assured. "But from what we've seen, there's a whole bunch of them and only six of us. We won't stand a chance if we get caught so splitting up and entering from different angles will give us the best chance of not getting caught."

Rodney frowned, knowing he had lost this battle. Sam gave him a sympathetic smile before continuing.

"Alright," she began. "Ronon, I want you with Sheppard..."

Ronon nodded and twirled his gun in his hand.

"I'll go with muscles!" Vala volunteered, beginning to skip over towards him but Sam caught her by the collar and held her back.

"Vala, you're with me," she said, and Vala pouted. "And…" she continued, looking over the two remaining team members. "Uh, Sheppard, why don't you take McKay," she suggested. Teyla grinned and went to stand beside the other two women.

"We'll go through the hills," Sam said, waving her hand out towards the rocky valley they had flown over just before landing. "You can take the woods."

Sheppard nodded. "Good luck," he said, leading his team down his assigned route.

Sam groaned at the scene before her. The hike here had been uneventful and long, especially with Rodney's constant interruptions over the radio. Vala was her normal self, chatting away about a wide range of topics, all completely unrelated to the task at hand, while Sam stayed extra sharp—even more than she usually was.

It wasn't just the fact that fate of the galaxy was in their hands AGAIN or that they were on a hostile planet inhabited by unknown aliens that was making her anxious, but the fact that this was the first galaxy-threatening mission she was leading since arriving on Atlantis. She was unfamiliar with the terrain and the team, and the success of this mission was weighing heavily on her.

They had met little—make that _no_ resistance on their way up here, and now she knew why. All of the aliens that had once been scattered about were now all gathering near the dome—the one place they needed to be. They knew they were here.

Sam lowered the binoculars and stared out at the scene for several more moments, hoping that in some miraculous coincidence, the aliens might start dispersing themselves again.

"That doesn't look too promising," Vala commented from where she lay flat on her stomach beside Sam on the large embankment.

Sam frowned and clicked her radio. "Sheppard, what's your position?" she asked, then bit her lip as she waited for him to reply.

They waited several long moments and all they received was static. Sam tried again.

"Ronon, McKay, this is Carter, please respond."

Nothing.

Shit…

"Colonel!"

Sam looked over at where Teyla was standing at the base of the hill. She stood up and skidded down it, P-90 clutched tightly to her, and Vala hurried after her. When they reached the bottom, she stumbled and held onto Sam to sturdy herself. Sam ignored this and lightly shucked her off as she went to stand beside the Athosian woman.

She was about to ask what was wrong but her question was answered as a rustling sound could be heard coming from the thicket several yards away. She immediately raised her gun towards the noise. Teyla had already done so and was focusing with intent upon whatever lie behind the bushes.

Suddenly, something emerged. At first glance it looked like a human… then a bear… Sam soon realized that it was neither.

The alien had the body of a man, but was much taller and stockier. It wore what appeared to be a shiny silver suit. Its head was sand-colored and massive, and had an almost a scaly texture with tiny black beads for eyes and a rather fish-like face. It had no hair, but instead a bumpy, deformed crown at the back which much resembled the brain creatures in Star Trek. Its hands looked like five-fingered crab claws and its enormous feet only had one toe. What she found interesting about them though, which she noticed immediately, was that they carried no weapons.

Only moments after the first one emerged, others began appearing from all around them, closing in on them with an eerily slow pace as they cracked their claws together.

Teyla swung around and began firing at them the same time the other two did, but they were rewarded only with the clicking sounds of an empty clip. Sam frowned and tried a few more times as the creatures drew ever closer.

"My clip's full! What's going on?" Vala shouted, her voice panicky. She had removed the clip from her P-90 and was brandishing it in frustration.

Sam glanced at it and frowned in bewilderment. Teyla threw her P-90 to the side and pulled out her hand gun. She fired several times and it had the same effect. She frowned and held it uselessly in her hand.

"This is not working either," she said, now more worried than before.

Sam dropped her weapon to her vest as the creatures drew nearer. She was the smart one… she was supposed to have the answers… but she didn't. Some of the aliens had raised their arms in front of them like zombies and it was almost as though their eyes were swirling. If she had a theory it would be that these creatures were some kind of telepaths, and that's how they were able to detect their approach and disable their weapons, and it would also explain the hypnotizing effect their radio waves were having back on Earth.

The three women were standing in a triangle back to back as the aliens closed in. Sam weighed her options. They couldn't surrender—then they would be either killed or captured, which would destroy all chances of success. She frowned and extracted her army knife from her belt. She jerked off its sheath and held it threateningly in front of her. "Guess it's time for plan B," she advised.

Teyla quickly got the idea and unstrapped a larger knife from her side. Vala struggled for a moment to locate hers but clumsily pulled it out as well.

The aliens were merely feet away from them when Teyla moved.

She rushed at one of them and sliced its throat, then spun around and stabbed another one in the stomach. Sam was satisfied to see the creatures drop to their knees and collapse into an unmoving heap. Somehow she had expected them to be invincible or something.

While Teyla engaged 3 other aliens, Sam and Vala attacked at will.

Allowing Vala to take on one of the aliens approaching from the woods, Sam swung around towards the hills where she knew several more were coming towards them. However, she did not expect to find them this close, and she had to lean backwards when one that stood directly in front of her took a swing at her face.

She almost lost her balance but Vala, who was still standing beside her facing the opposite direction, grabbed the front of her vest and heaved her upwards into a standing position, where she quickly thrust her knife deep into the alien's forehead.

After that, she wasn't given a chance to look back as she was then swarmed by the creatures. She jerked her knife out and let her victim drop to the ground, then ducked as another took a swing at her. From where she stood half-crouching she lashed out at it's stomach and sliced a long, deep gash in it. The alien let out an ear splitting scream as black blood poured from its wound and it stumbled backwards.

Meanwhile, an alien had caught Vala as she attempted to drive her knife into its chest and had its claw clamped tightly around her wrist. She clenched her teeth, struggling to overpower the larger creature. It drew back its arm and catapulted it into her. The force sent her flying into a tree, her knife clinging as it dropped onto the hard ground.

The alien trampled over it and approached her while she struggled to push herself off the ground. It clamped down on her throat with its claw and dragged her back so the back of her head slammed into the base of the tree. She choked and clawed at it, trying to pry it off, but the alien only cocked its head in curiosity and watched her.

Teyla was being overrun. There were simply too many of them and she couldn't take them all on by herself. Somehow, this was not as easy for her as it should have been. However many of them there may be, these creatures were slow and unarmed. They should have been no problem. But she was feeling abnormally heavy and slow herself, and was quickly growing tired. Not to mention she had the most mind-splitting headache… and it was getting worse.

She cried out in ferocity as she lashed out, beheading one of the creatures as it approached. She spun around and struck another across the chest. She was becoming dizzy… everything seemed to be moving in slow motion and the world was spinning around her. Only two left now. She moved out of the way just as one of the creatures attempted to seize her by the wrist. She gripped her dagger with two hands and thrust it in a forceful downwards motion, severing the creature's outstretched arm.

She could hear voices in her head now. They were speaking a strange language and she couldn't understand. The voices grew louder and her ear piece started to glitch and a shrill, ear-piercing ring emitted from it.

She screamed and keeled over, holding her head in pain. Her knife clattered to the ground and was kicked far out of reach as the remaining creature approached. She dropped to her knees, crying out as the pain became unbearable.

Sam jerked the knife from the creature's chest forcefully and paused to catch her breath as it dropped to the ground. She had taken out most of the creatures in her area. Now there would be only one left… just where was it…?

She was about to turn around when something seized her wrist where she had been wielding her knife. She gasped and tried to pull out of its grasp as her weapon was taken forcefully from her, twisting her wrist as it did so.

She finally was able to pull away, (or it let go; she couldn't tell) and stumbled several steps forward. She spun around to face it, huffing furiously as she rubbed at her sore wrist. 'Crap,' she thought. Now she was unarmed.

She rushed at the creature and swung her leg in a high ark towards its side, but it caught her by the thigh and she felt a sharp, pinching pain sear through her where it had clamped down. She ground her teeth together, willing herself not to cry out as the pain spread through her leg.

The alien clamped down and pulled hard, causing her to lose her footing and it swung her around by the leg. When it let go, she was tossed quite a distance before she hit the ground and rolled another several feet.

On her back, Sam made a pained expression and squeezed her eyes shut, writhing uncomfortably and holding her arm, for her whole body was sore from her rough landing. When she blinked her eyes open, she could feel the wetness in them and she stared up at the blaring sun.

As the creature slowly approached her, her head rolled to the side and she caught a glint of the sun's reflection off of a piece metal. It was Vala's knife.

Her eyes quickly darted back to her attacker as it was now looming over her, and they grew wide with fear.

It began reaching for her neck and she fumbled blindly for the knife. Cursing, she finally found it and sliced it across the creature's chest. It screamed and fell over backwards as clood reched its muth a poured freely from it.

She sighed in relief and sat up. Just then, she heard screaming and her head turned towards the source of it.

Teyla was hunched over on her knees at the base of a tree with an alien hovering over her. Sam quickly struggled to her feet and limped towards her.

She was stopped in her tracks when she heard another horrible scream.

"AAaHhh! Sam!" The voice was raspy and cracked when she tried to scream.

Sam spun around and saw another of the aliens pinning Vala against a tree. Its claw was clenched around her throat and her face was beginning to change color.

She looked back and forth desperately between the two women, trying to figure out what to do. Suddenly, she noticed another gleaming piece of silver on the ground in front of her and hurriedly limped the short distance to it.

She picked up Teyla's knife and quickly calculated the distance and angle between both herself and Teyla and herself and Vala. 'Damn, this is a bad idea,' she thought, but her friends screams were enough to convince her. She drew both knives back and hurtled them towards their targets.

Lucky shot. Very lucky.

The two aliens screeched loudly as the blades pierced their skulls and they dropped to the ground.

Teyla stopped screaming as the pain slowly flooded from her and she lowered her shaking hands from her head, taking fast, hollow breaths.

Vala gasped and brought her hand to her throat as the color slowly returned to her face's normal tint. She coughed loudly as she slid down the tree trunk.

Sam sighed in relief that her friends were alive and waited as they made their way over to her.

"You two alright?" she asked through heavy breaths.

"I am fine," Teyla said with a weak smile as she slowly made her way towards Sam. "Thank you."

Sam smiled in return. Vala walked over and met them, still rubbing her neck, and frowned as she looked over her friend.

"Sam," she began, and Sam turned towards her. "Don't be alarmed, but you've got a knife in your leg."

Sam frowned and looked down at her leg. 'So that's where my knife went,' she thought. There was indeed a knife protruding from her thigh, and dark blood seeped through her pant leg. Teyla gasped slightly.

Sam sighed. "So I do…" she said, and grasped the knife by its handle, tugging it out in one fast motion. Immediately she regretted it as the pain seared through her leg. She could feel herself weakening before her knees gave way and she groaned in pain, cursing loudly as she dropped the knife.

Teyla caught her around the waist and Sam hung her arm over her shoulder. Vala grabbed her other arm for support and they guided her the short distance over to a tree.

Her face contorted in pain as she leaned back against it. She lifted her uninjured leg so she could wrap a hand around it and let the other one stretch out in front of her. Teyla kneeled down beside her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I'll go get some bandages," Vala offered and hurried off to dig through their pack.

Sam sighed, then opened her eyes and looked at Teyla. She was staring blankly at the ground with a pained expression in her eyes.

"You sure you're ok?" she asked.

Teyla looked up. "You did not feel it?" she asked, concerned.

Sam furrowed her eyebrows. She was in massive pain and agony but she didn't think that was what she meant. "Feel what?" she asked.

Teyla gave an impatient sigh. "When I was fighting them, it felt as though they were attacking my mind. I had a horrible headache and then… the pain became unbearable."

Sam looked even more confused. "You think the creatures themselves were doing it?"

She shook her head. "I can not think of any other explanation."

"So why didn't it affect us?" she wondered.

"It's in our blood," Vala explained, walking up with the pack.

Teyla gave her a puzzled look.

"The naquadah…" Sam thought out loud, as Vala kneeled down on her other side and began rummaging through the bag.

"Yeah," Vala said. "It just came to me as fish face was about to suck my brains out." She picked up the knife Sam had dropped and swiftly ripped a strip out of Sam's pants where she had been stabbed. The wound was deep and was bleeding profusely.

"Well that makes sense," Sam continued, than clenched her teeth in pain as Vala poured water over the wound.

"What is naquadah?" Teyla asked curiously.

"It's a metal…" Sam explained through clenched teeth until Vala finally capped the canteen and put it away. She let out a breath in relief and continued. "…in Gua'ould symbiotes. Vala and I were once host to Gua'ould, and that would explain why we're the only ones who are seemingly immune to the affects these aliens are having on you."

Teyla nodded slowly in understanding as Vala withdrew another item from the pack and slid her hand through it.

"Hey! Are we even allowed to have those things off world!?!" Sam accused, recognizing the object as a Gua'ould healing device.

Vala frowned and halted her actions. "Do you want me to heal you or not?"

Sam sighed and was silent. Teyla looked back and forth between the two women, now thoroughly confused.

"I do not understand…" she said.

Vala smiled. "Just watch."

She covered the device with her other hand and positioned it directly over Sam's wound. Closing her eyes, she went into a deep state of concentration and suddenly, the device lit up. Teyla gasped as the wound slowly sealed itself and then disappeared completely. When the device shut off, the only thing left was dried blood.

Teyla struggled to find words as she stared down at Sam's leg in disbelief. "That is impossible…" she said.

Sam put her hand firmly on the other woman's shoulder, forcing her to meet her gaze.

"I'll explain later," she promised. Teyla nodded, and clasped her forearm with her own to help her up. Surprisingly, she hardly needed the help. She sprung back up as Vala repacked the bag and handed it over to her. Sam effortlessly took the pack and slung it over her back, causing Teyla to gape at her in disbelief. She was surprised she was able to support the weight.

"We should keep moving," she suggested. "They'll be after us soon."

Teyla nodded and followed after her as she sprinted up the hill.

"You're welcome!" Vala called after her before sprinting after them.

**Author's Note: Just a story I've been meaning to write. It'll probably only be 2 parts when I'm finished.**


	2. Part 2

"I knew this was a bad idea…" Rodney grumbled, flexing his shoulders in discomfort.

John sighed. Right after their last contact with Carter, Vala and Teyla, they had attempted to slip into the dome along with a small group of aliens and had gotten themselves captured.

He was sure they would have been able to take them, but they disabled their weapons somehow.

Now, the three of them were kneeling on the dais of a Stargate, their hands bound to a long horizontal rod that passed through their arms behind their backs. Any time now, the aliens would activate the Stargate and they would be killed in the blast. They would not kill them immediately though, thinking they would suffer more if they had to wait for their inevitable death.

But what these aliens didn't know was that by keeping them alive, they were giving the girls an opportunity to come and rescue them.

John smiled at the thought. Any time now…

"John!"

As if on cue, a harsh whisper came from behind them, and John's eyes widened, but he didn't turn his head for fear of exposing them.

"Teyla!?!" Rodney hissed back. His mouth dropped open and he twisted around, trying to look, but the rod and his inflexibility were preventing him from doing so.

"How'd you guys find us?" John asked out of the corner of his mouth, watching closely for on-looking aliens.

"Trust me, finding you was the easy part," he heard Sam say and sighed, relieved to hear her voice in addition to Teyla's.

Sam, Teyla, and Vala were concealing themselves on the opposite side of the dais, hidden from the aliens that were flocking around the central dome.

"You guys ok?" John asked, trying to make the conversation move along.

"We're fine," Sam assured. "What happened?"

"We got captured going into the dome," John explained. "They disabled our weapons somehow."

"Yeah, I know. Same thing happened to us."

"Can we get out of here now?" Ronon said after a short silence. Teyla grinned in amusement.

"Oh, no, no," Rodney quickly interjected. "We can't leave yet!"

"Why not?" Ronon retorted.

"Well, 'cause!" Rodney shot back, seemingly offended. As he continued, he lowered his voice. "There is definitely something in that dome, alright? We were able to see the inside of it just before we got captured, and there's some very advanced technology in there that's giving off enormous amounts of power!"

Sam considered it. "Well, that sounds like our power source. How tights' the security?"

It was John who answered this time. "There's no one in there. The security _around_ the dome is what we're going to have problems with."

Sam raised both eyebrows, pleased with the answer. She exchanged looks with the other two women. "Well, I think we can handle that."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Rodney said in disbelief.

"What do you have in mind?" John asked, ignoring his friend's lack of confidence.

"I'll go in with McKay and check it out," Sam volunteered. "If the rest of you can act as a diversion and head for the puddle jumper, it should be able to clear most of them out. Once we turn the machine off, you can come back and get us."

"Oh, well that's a terrible id-"

"Fine," John cut Rodney off. "Tell us what to do."

Sam smiled appreciatively before going over the plan.

V

The coast was clear. No eyes were on them; the aliens were too distracted by their tasks to pay their captives any mind. They expected the troop they sent out earlier had taken care of the others.

John gave the hand signal behind his back, and Teyla subtly rose up and cut the men's bonds. They still remained unseen, so they silently slunk over the edge of the dais to join their friends.

Now they wasted no time. The men plus Teyla and Vala gave their last nods of encouragement to Carter and McKay and then darted towards the hill, staying as low as possible.

As they expected, the aliens were quick to notice that their captives had escaped and some began to let out howls of rage. Sam and Rodney, who stayed crouched behind the dais, covered their ears to drown out the painful noise.

Just as quickly, some aliens spotted the small group racing over the hill and informed their fellow creatures by letting out a shrill cry and pointing. Immediately, the chase began.

Nearly all the creatures that had been gathered there stampeded after them, leaving just a few behind to guard the dome. The rest ran in a separate direction, probably going for back up or something.

For telepathic aliens with such advanced technology, they sure didn't seem too bright when it came to common sense. It was actually just that they had such little experience with humans, they didn't understand their tactics. Their limited understanding of them was that they operated around a will to survive, which was what they expected them to be doing. They never expected them to even try to get into the dome, knowing what was in there.

Although they ran faster now then before, the aliens were still far slower than the four humans. And though it was a far ways, it seemed to go much more quickly now they knew exactly where they were going and they were running for their lives. It was rather unexpected when energy beams began flying past them from behind.

"Oh crap!" John cursed, narrowly ducking a shot. He didn't realize the aliens actually had weapons.

They ran faster through the woods, weaving around trees in attempts to avoid being hit. Teyla and Vala, the only ones left armed, shot blindly backwards from their P-90s, only to discover they still didn't work.

Suddenly, one of them let out a pained cry and the team spun around briefly to see who it was. Vala had been hit, and Teyla ran back the short distance to her. Heaving her up by the arm, she realized she was only stunned, but would not be able to keep running as she was now unconscious.

Ronon met Teyla and quickly relieved her, throwing Vala over his shoulder effortlessly yelling: "Go! Go! Go!" and urging her to keep running.

V

Meanwhile, Sam and Rodney slowly snuck around the 'gate as the area emptied out, having thus far avoided being seen.

As the last ran for the hills, Sam slunk from behind the Stargate and began to run towards the dome, staying low and keeping her eyes on their retreating enemy. Rodney cursed at her recklessness and hurried after her.

They made it to the dome and pinned their backs against it, breathing hard in apprehension. Their entrance was around the corner, where two guards, (holding weapons this time) were posted. Rodney swallowed as Sam withdrew her black blood-stained knife and began to edge along the wall.

When she was so close that they would be discovered if she so much as flinched, she rushed forward and hooked her arm around her first victim's neck too fast for him to react and slit his throat.

The creature began to collapse, but Sam held it up, using it for a shield as the other alien fired its stun weapon at her. After about three shots, she peeked her head out from behind it and launched her knife at it. It struck the creature through the face and killed it instantly.

She sighed in relief and released the dead alien. Rodney arrived behind her, shaking in fear and brandishing his own knife. Sam tried not to giggle at the sight when she turned to face him.

"Did we get them all?" Rodney asked.

"Yeah, we got them Rodney," Sam replied, walking over to the dead alien with the knife in its face. She bent down and yanked it out, wiping the blood off on the alien's suit.

"Oh, that's just repulsive," Rodney commented, wrinkling his nose at the squishing sound the knife had made when she pulled it out.

Sam ignored him and returned her knife to her belt. She relieved the aliens of their weapons and tossed one to Rodney, which he caught clumsily. "Let's go," she advised, and slunk into the dome with the gun raised.

Inside, the dome was huge and filled with dark, murky water. In the very center was a large, bud-shaped mechanism of some sort. Sam frowned and wandered into the room, glancing down into the water. Under the surface, she could see a huge network of pipes of different shapes and sizes all leading out to the central device.

"Great…" she said as Rodney appeared beside her and looked down into the water. "Now what?"

There was a long silence before Rodney realized Sam was staring at him expectantly. "What!?! Don't look at me!"

Sam laughed sarcastically. "I kind of hoped after you proposed coming in here that you might have some sort of plan?"

"You see, always relying on the genius," Rodney said smugly, crossing his arms.

"Just what I was thinking," Sam muttered, but Rodney had already pushed past her and was examining the central machine. Now he was glad for the tiny devices in his ears that were drowning out the hypnosis waves.

"Alright there must be some kind of off-switch…" he said, thinking aloud.

"That's wishful thinking, don't you think?"

Rodney glared at her. "What idiot would design a universal brainwashing machine without an off-switch?"

"So, 'look for the big red button' is the most ingenious plan you can come up with?"

Rodney was looking out at the device and his face split into an egotistical grin. "Not necessarily ingenious, but…" he pointed out at a control panel concealed under the large machine. It had several levers, and one of them was rather prominent and red.

Sam frowned, squinting at the thing Rodney was pointing to. "Well, that's convenient…" she commented.

"What, you expected we could just walk in, push a button on the side of the door and go home?"

Sam was tiring of this bickering very quickly. It seemed everything that came out of her mouth had to be dissected and replied to with an arrogant, offensive statement to challenge her intelligence. She sighed.

"Alright, fine. You go out there and push your ever convenient little 'off-switch,' and then we can pack up and go home," she shot back sarcastically.

Rodney didn't look as smug anymore and he frowned at the idea. "What? Well… why can't you do it?" he stammered.

"What's wrong McKay? Afraid of sea monsters?" she asked with a humored grin.

"N-no!" he shouted back. "I just don't think it's such a good idea is all."

"Oh, but its fine for me to do it…" she said, sitting down and beginning to unstrap her boots.

"W-what are you doing?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm getting this over with so we can go home you moron," she explained, having removed her boots and now rolling up her pant legs and standing up.

"You sure you don't want to take off your shirt or anything? I mean, in case you slip or something?" Rodney asked awkwardly. Sam frowned and thrust her boots and gun at his chest so he was forced to hold them.

She looked down into the dark abyss again and located one of the larger pipes. She dipped her foot in and tested its strength. Satisfied, she turned back to McKay.

"Wait here," she ordered, then carefully stepped down into the water.

V

The team made it to the jumper and it opened for them as they approached. They were racing into it before it had even opened all the way and John had started it up and taken off before it got the chance to close.

As they shot off into the sky, the herd that had been chasing them continued to fire at them. They were caught off guard when some much larger energy blasts impacted the back of the jumper and two tiny vessels began closing in behind them. He tried to fire at them, but the jumper's weapons had been disabled.

"Ah!" John exclaimed, dodging out of their way as another two ships crossed their path in front of them. "I am not having a good day!"

V

As Sam walked across the pipe, she was surprised at how unslippery it was. She was submerged up to her knees and was walking across as cautiously as possible. She gulped as she stared down at her own reflection in the dark waters, for that was all she could see. Sam hated open water. It was one of her biggest fears because she could never see beneath it. Pushing the thought from her mind, she forced herself to look up and continued.

Finally, she reached the middle and held on tightly to the side of the machine for support. Rodney watched the scene anxiously, his palms becoming sweaty.

She stepped down onto a lower, skinnier pipe in order to get closer to the control panel. She was now submerged up to her mid-thighs, and continued to cautiously round the contraption.

When she reached the control panel, she hesitated while she looked over all the levers and switches. For once, she felt like the poor stupid person having no idea what they were doing, and simply hoping for luck. She swallowed, resting her hand on the lever.

With one last wish, she squeezed her eyes shut and pulled it down. The mechanism, which had previously been humming and glowing a light shade of pink, shut off and brought the room into darkness, illuminated only by the light coming from the open door.

Sam smiled and looked over at McKay, who smiled back.

"That's it! We did it!" he exclaimed. "Well done, Sam!"

Sam smiled more widely at the praise.

"Now come on! Let's get out of here!"

"Just give me a sec! We still need to remove the power source!"

Sam turned back to the device and scanned it for some kind of opening. She located a panel and, with a light push, it opened. She pulled out what looked like some kind of large hard drive with glowing blue and green lines on it. She observed it for a moment, then stuck it into her vest pocket.

As she began to round the machine again, something in the water caught her eye and she stopped dead in her tracks. She gazed down into the water, and swore she could see movement.

"Sam!" Rodney called, wondering why she had stopped. "What's wrong?"

"I think I see something!" she called back, holding onto the machine for her life.

Rodney frowned for a moment, but then his mouth broke into a grin. "Ah-hah… I get it. Very funny Sam…" he said, remembering her little sea monster joke.

"I'm serious, Rodney! There's something down there!"

"Forget it! I'm not buying it!"

Sam could see the movement more clearly now, telling her that whatever it was had gotten closer to the surface. She was waist deep in the water, and frozen to the spot. She was too terrified to move.

Rodney kept on talking though, completely oblivious to his friend's state of panic. "…Now come on Sam! We need to head…" but before he could finish his sentence, a slight whimper sounded and Sam had disappeared beneath the surface.

Rodney frowned, becoming concerned. He walked to the water's edge and looked down into it. "Umm, Sam!" he called into it, nervously. He could feel his palms becoming sweaty again. "Ok, jokes over. You can come up now!"

Sam struggled but the weed-like tentacles were snaking further and further up her body and she was beginning to lose movement in her legs. She could feel herself being pulled down and when she opened her mouth, trying to scream, she got a mouthful of water instead.

As the tentacles wound themselves around her torso, she struggled to get at her knife but another tentacle snagged her wrist and immobilized it.

She couldn't breathe. She was being suffocated and she couldn't breathe… This was it, she thought. She was going to drown and get eaten by some god-forsaken alien sea monster and that would be the way her life ends.

Rodney splashed his hand through the water, as if it might encourage her to come up. He was beginning to grow terrified.

He stood up, backing away from the edge and beginning to pace.

"Think Rodney, think!" he ordered himself. "No!" he said, smacking himself in the head. "You can't go down there! Let's face it, she's already dead; there's nothing you can do for her."

He whimpered. For the first time in his life he was under pressure and had no idea what to do.

Finally, he turned and began walking back towards the water's edge. "Aww, screw it!" he said, pulling off his boots as he walked and diving into the water.

He swam downward as fast as he could, scanning the waters as far as he could see. Coincidentally, by swimming straight down he ran right into the creature. He paused, free-floating while he observed the scene from a distance for a moment

He couldn't see the creature's head or body but its long tentacles reached out of the darkness and wound themselves around Sam. She was floating in its tight grasp, unconscious… or dead, he thought.

His face contorted in rage and he swam quickly to her. He pulled his knife from his belt and drove it deeply into one of the larger tentacles.

He could hear the creature screaming in pain and all its tentacles slackened immediately so Sam was floating freely. Wasting no time, he grabbed her around the waist and began to paddle as fast as he could towards the surface.

The creature was only disabled for a short amount of time, and quickly recovered. Its tentacles shot like arrows through the water after its prey.

But Rodney was swimming extremely fast, and just barely escaped as he weaved in between some pipes that the tentacles couldn't.

He emerged on the surface, coughing and sputtering and waded towards the edge where he had dove in.

He pulled himself ashore and then pulled Sam's unconscious form up after him and dragged her to safety. Kneeling down beside her, water pouring off his nose, he patted her cheek in concern.

"Come on, Sam!" he urged, but she did not respond.

"Come on!" he tried again. "I did not dive into sea-monster infested waters and risk my life fighting some freak alien squid so you could die on me!" he raised his fist, prepared to pound it into her chest. "Now, BREATHE!"

Before he could bring his fist down, she began to sputter and sat halfway up, coughing water up over the edge. Rodney let out a huge sigh of relief and lowered his arm.

"Oh, thank god!" he exclaimed as Sam collapsed back onto her back, breathing hard. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" he accused.

Sam smiled, and apologized weakly. "Sorry…"

Rodney looked over her in concern again. "You sure you're ok? I mean… you don't need me to give you mouth-to-mouth or anything?"

Sam smiled again. "I'm breathing, Rodney. Thank you."

Rodney nodded, looking slightly disappointed and took her offered hand, helping her to her feet.

"Thank you," she said thoughtfully.

"You ok?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Suddenly, the entire platform shook beneath them and Sam had to hold onto Rodney for balance, who tried not to comment on it.

"What was that?" he asked, holding onto the wall with his other hand.

Before Sam could answer, a loud roar came from beneath the water and shook the dome, sound waves echoing off the walls. Sam and Rodney had to cover their ears again as giant tentacles shot out of the water and crashed down on the platform several feet in front of them.

The platform shook and began to slant into the water, causing Sam to stumble and slide towards it. Rodney caught her and pulled her backwards as the waves lapped up at them.

Breathing hard, the pair cursed as they realized that the squid-thing had broken off a large strip of the platform, and cut off their access to the door. Now they couldn't get out.

"Great! What do we do now!?!" Rodney demanded, back to his normal self again.

Sam didn't answer, just stared wide-eyed as the creature made its way through the water. They could now see its head, and it looked like an eel. 'The snake…' Sam thought, realizing it closely resembled the image Rodney had shown her back on Atlantis. Somehow she had expected it to bee smaller.

It leapt from the water again, this time head-first, and dove in an ark towards Sam and Rodney, its fangs bared.

"MOVE!" Sam ordered, pulling Rodney out of the way just as it took a chunk out of the wall they had just been standing in front of. They ran along the side of the wall on the ring-shaped platform, dodging the creature's tentacles as they shot out of the water.

"This was NOT the plan I had in mind!!!"

V

Vala stirred on the bench while the John steered the jumper through obstacles. She sat up, groggily asking, "What'd I miss?"

An energy blast struck the side of the jumper and the team stumbled, grabbing onto the walls to balance themselves.

"Sheppard! How's it coming?"

John clasped his hand to his radio.

"Great," he lied as another energy blast hit them. "How 'bout you guys? Have you disabled the device yet?"

"Yeah," Sam responded. She was standing beside Rodney, back against the wall as the snake took strikes at them. They rolled out of the way just barely each time it sent rubble crashing into the water. "Think you could give us a lift?"

"Umm… we're actually a little busy at the moment… Do you think you could hold off for a few minutes?"

Sam winced as Rodney narrowly dodged a tentacle. "A couple seconds would be good…"

She lifted her alien weapon and began firing at the creature.

Weapon blasts and crashing rock sounded over the static of the radio and John winced. He turned the jumper around and headed back towards the dome, bringing the alien ships with him.

As the dome came into view, the jumper dodged a few blasts that struck the dome instead and created a gaping hole in the roof that alloed sunlight to seep through. John took his opportunity and flew through the gap that the other ships were too large to fit through.

The door opened as they came to hover above the water and the snake dove under. Sam and Rodney, who were cowering on what was left of the platform, quickly jumped into the back of the jumper as it took off.

They flew through the hole again, narrowly avoiding blasts from the alien's ships, and headed for the Stargate in orbit around the planet. As they exited the atmosphere, they lost the alien ships. John guessed they were not meant to be space ships.

All sighed in relief and John slowed the jumper. "Everyone all right?" he asked, eyeing Sam and Rodney's still soaking wet bodies.

"I believe so," Teyla responded, looking around at the occupants of the jumper in relief.

Rodney turned to Sam, beaming with joy. "We did it!" he yelled. "We're alive!"

He spread his arms, prepared to welcome a hug, but before Sam could refuse, her eyes fluttered shut and she collapsed. Rodney frowned. This had been the least of his expectations.

"Sam!" Vala exclaimed, and rushed to her side where the Athosian was already kneeling, taking her pulse.

"She's gone into shock," Teyla told them, all relief wiped from her face.

"What happened?" Ronon demanded.

Rodney crouched down, moving Sam's wet hair out of the way. That's when he saw it: two bloody teeth mark in the side of her neck.

To Be Continued

**Author's Note: Aahh! The suspense! Sorry, guys. I said this would only be a two part story, but I'm going to continue it in my next fic: Saving Pegasus, so look out for it! Thanks for the comments on Part one, and please leave more!**


	3. Part 3

Part 3

Parts 3 and 4 can be found in a new story: Saving Pegasus. See my profile for the link, (because apparently I can't put links in here...)


End file.
